Topic · 3 insights · 5 how-tos
Self-Custody: Recovery, Inheritance and Protection
Self-custody means the keys that move your crypto live only with you, so no company can freeze, lose or lend your funds, and no company can recover them for you either. The work is making sure you, or your family, can always get back in.
SpendTheBits generates the keys on your phone and never sees them. On top of the recovery phrase it offers guardian-based social recovery, a dead-man's-switch inheritance plan, spending guardrails and a freeze switch, so a lost phone, a stolen phone or a death in the family each has a planned answer.
- Recovery phrase: shown once, screenshot-blocked, verified with a quiz.
- Guardians: hold encrypted shares, never the phrase.
- Inheritance: heirs can claim only after a silence period you choose.
- Passphrase: handed over out-of-band, never stored with the plan.
Insights
· 8 min read
Exchange Collapse: What Actually Happens to Your Crypto
What an exchange collapse does to your coins: unsecured creditor status, the petition-date price freeze and the years-long wait, with FTX, Celsius and Mt. Gox.
· 8 min read
Crypto Inheritance: Social Recovery vs a Hardware Wallet for Your Family
Crypto inheritance fails through silence, not theft. Compare a hardware wallet, a lawyer-held seed and SLIP-0039 social recovery, then build a family plan.
· 8 min read
FIFO vs HIFO for Crypto Taxes: A Worked Founder Example
FIFO vs HIFO on the same ETH sale: a $1,000 gain or a $500 loss. What the IRS allows, why Canada requires average cost, and how CFO Books handles both.
How-to guides
- How to back up your recovery phrase4 min · step by step
- How to set up social recovery with guardians4 min · step by step
- How to set up crypto inheritance4 min · step by step
- How to set spending guardrails and limits3 min · step by step
- How to freeze your wallet3 min · step by step
In the product: Recovery & inheritance · Security model
Try it with your own keys.
SpendTheBits is a fully non-custodial wallet, free on iOS and Android.